


No Longer Unique (No Longer Alone)

by bisexualcyborg



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Asexuality, Complete lack of respect for the generally accepted legal and moral rules surrounding magic, Disabled Character, Excessive Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fade-To-Black Sex Scenes, Families of Choice, M/M, Mentally Ill Character, Mention of recreational drug use, Multi, Non-explicit mention of kink, Nonbinary Character, Polyamory, Trans Characters, basically everyone is really queer and kinky, lycanthropy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 05:38:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2536151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualcyborg/pseuds/bisexualcyborg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which people keep walking in on each other and it somehow leads to new friendships and a happy poly family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Victor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [syntheticcathedral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/syntheticcathedral/gifts).



> This was written for [wingale](http://archiveofourown.org/users/wingale)'s birthday. I love you, and I hope you have as much fun reading this as I had writing it <3  
> My eternal gratitude to [221brosiewilde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/221brosiewilde) for the fast and efficient beta, and the delightful enthusiasm.  
> I am cisgender, bisexual and physically disabled - my apologies if I screwed anything up.

Victor wiped a hand over his forehead. It came away clammy with sweat. The rest of the dungeons were freezing cold at this time of the year, but the Potions classroom was hot and stifled with the fumes of twenty potions boiling lazily in their cauldrons. Many students had discarded their robes and rolled up their shirtsleeves – Dorian Gray had even unbuttoned his shirt almost to his navel, which surprised exactly no one – but Victor liked the protective layers of clothing. If they meant he had to feel like he was melting for another fifteen minutes, so be it.

He stirred his potion once more, and pink fumes rose from the cauldron. It was almost ready. Victor’s heart started beating just a little bit faster, and he breathed in deeply, willing for it to slow down. He couldn’t smell anything yet. Was that normal? He looked around at the other students. No one else seemed to act as though they were recognizing a particular scent, either. But when they would, would he? He was pretty sure the properties of Amortentia were just… not up his alley.

In the corner of his vision, Vanessa Ives’ head suddenly snapped up. She waved one hand over her cauldron so the fumes wafted in her direction, and her cheeks flushed dark pink. Oh. So her potion was ready, then. Victor wondered what she smelled.

Apparently, he was not the only one, because the professor called her name. Vanessa turned her head towards him, the haughty look on her face contrasting incongruously with her fiery blush.

“Would I be wrong in assuming you’ve finished your potion?” professor Jekyll asked.

“No, sir.” 

Jekyll walked over to her and looked into her cauldron. “Mother-of-pearl sheen, pink fumes… Yes, this looks perfect. There’s only the final test. Pray tell us, Miss Ives, what do you smell?”

Vanessa gave him a look that would have made lesser men tremble in their shoes, but he seemed unfazed.

“Fine,” Vanessa said, her tone clipped and dry. “I smell glycerin, plaster and clay, the sea, and….” Her blush turned even fiercer, but her stare didn’t waver. “And Mina’s hair.”

On the chair next to hers, Dorian Gray put a hand over his heart. “Aw, how romantic!”

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. “Jealous, Dorian?”

“Obviously not, since you and Mina are kind enough to occasionally allow me to join you in your bed.” He brushed his hair out of his eyes and winked. "Or, you know, in any other convenient place."

“Mister Gray,” Jekyll interfered, “let’s please keep this appropriate. Instead of flirting with your fellow students, why don’t you tell us what you smell?”

Gray looked at him through his eyelashes. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible, sir,” – was Victor imagining the emphasis on the last word? Jekyll was rather attractive, if attraction was your thing – “not if I’m supposed to stay appropriate.”

“Fine,.” Jekyll let out a long-suffering sigh. “Someone else, then?” He looked around the classroom. “How about you, Mister Frankenstein?”

Damn. Well, this was the hour of truth, then. Victor bent his head over his cauldron and breathed in deeply. He reared back, coughing. What the hell?

“Mister Frankenstein?” Jekyll asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He cleared his throat. “I smell… formol, disinfectant, and, uh, latex, or something similar.”

“Interesting kinks,” Gray drawled, and Vanessa elbowed him in the ribs. “Shut up, Dorian.”

Jekyll ran a hand over his face and apparently decided to give up on the class. “Homework this week is two feet on Amortentia, on my desk by Tuesday. Class dismissed.”

As he gathered his books and potions supplies, Victor mused on his discovery. What he’d smelled in the Amortentia was definitely not something he associated with any person. The potion was supposed to reveal one’s deepest obsessions; obviously his own desires weren’t romantic or sexual in nature. Well, that wasn’t exactly a surprise.

As he walked out of the class, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. It was Professor Jekyll.

“Victor,” he said, looking at him intently, “I just wanted to say that… Whatever the Amortentia makes you feel, there’s nothing wrong with you, alright? It’s all fine.”

Oh. That was unexpected. Victor hadn’t ever pegged Jekyll as particularly accepting - it had taken him months to stop calling him Miss Frankenstein - But he obviously meant what he’d said.

Victor looked Jekyll in the eye. “I know.” And then, after a short pause, “Thank you.”

***

As he was ladling mashed potatoes onto his plate at dinner, Victor suddenly remembered something Vanessa had said during Potions. He swung his legs over the bench and walked over to the Slytherin table. Vanessa was engrossed in a conversation with Mina, who was practically perched on her lap, but turned around as soon as he tapped her on the shoulder.

“Oh, Victor, hi,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“I was wondering about something, yes.” Gray, who was sitting on Vanessa’s other side, scooted away from her and patted the space he’d freed. Victor frowned at him, a bit suspicious of his intentions, but sat down anyway. He faced Vanessa. “During Potions, with the Amortentia, you said you smelt plaster, clay and glycerin.”

Vanessa nodded.

“Those are used for taxidermy, right?” Victor asked.

It was Mina who answered. “Yes, that’s right. Bit of a hobby for Van and me. My father taught us when we were small, and now we’ve set up a small workshop here.”

“Right, the Sexydermy getaway,” Dorian piped in.

“Hush, you,” Mina told him, “or I’m rescinding your invitation to the getaway in question.”

Dorian made a show of zipping his lips shut and throwing the imaginary key over his shoulder.

Mina rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Victor. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, since you only need the skin to mount the animals, that must mean you have the carcasses left, right?”

“Obviously,” Vanessa said. “Do you want them? Normally, Mina feeds them to the Thestrals, but we can get meat from the kitchens and leave you the whole animals.”

“How did you know I wanted them?” Victor asked.

“Formol, disinfectant, and latex? I can do some deducing of my own, you know. You’re interested in anatomy; you want to dissect the animals. Besides, if you wanted to learn taxidermy, I'd say no. There's a difference between making dead things look alive and making them _be_ alive, and you don't strike me as the type that would fully grasp the nuances."

Victor scowled. That was unfair. Though, in all honesty, maybe not entirely incorrect.

“Everyone at this school is crazy,” Gray declared.

Vanessa rolled her eyes at him. “Dorian, you use scalpels on live humans. I’m not sure we’re the crazy ones here.”

“Never exempted myself from the craziness, Van. Besides, I mostly let people use scalpels on me.” He winked at Victor. “Interested, Frankenstein?”

Victor made his voice ice cold. “No, not really.”

“Oh, right, sorry.” Gray’s smile turned warm and genuine. “You’re ace. I forgot.”

“Ace?” Victor asked, puzzled.

“Yes, asexual.”

Oh. So there was a word for it. Victor turned it around in his mind. Asexual. It seemed to fit. He’d have to pay a visit to the library later, now that he had a word to start his research from.

Mina beamed at him. “We’ll be glad to leave you the carcasses! We’ll tell you when you can come pick them up at the Room of Requirement. Where do you do your experiments, by the way?”

“In the Common Room, at the moment. But I’m looking for another place; the other Ravenclaws aren’t very happy with me.” That was the understatement of the century. Last time he’d dissected a cow’s eye on one of the tables in the Common Room, Caliban had threatened to puncture Victor’s own eye with one of his ridiculous peacock feathers.

Mina opened her mouth, but Vanessa shot her a look and spoke in her place. “Ever thought of the Shrieking Shack?”

Dorian laughed. “Reluctant to share the Room of Requirement, are you?” He whispered conspiratorially to Victor, “Every hour someone else uses the Room is an hour they can’t make out amidst the mounted animals, you see.”

Eager to steer the conversation away from such subjects, Victor asked, “How do you even get into the Shrieking Shack?”

Dorian looked at him disbelievingly. “I thought that was common knowledge to anyone above Fifth Year? You press a knot on the Whomping Willow – provided you don’t get hit, of course – and it opens a secret passageway to the Shack.”

“It’s common knowledge to anyone who’s spent the last two years bringing his more adventurous conquests into the Shack so the screams wouldn’t be so suspicious, you mean,” Mina teased.

“Oh, go back to the Hufflepuff table, you," Dorian told her.

“Excellent comeback, Dorian, I’m impressed.” Vanessa’s voice was scathing.

Dorian stood up. “Alright, I can see I’m not wanted here. If you’ll excuse me, I have a couple of Gryffindor Quidditch stars to seduce before the end of the semester.” He waved at Victor and walked over to the other side of the Great Hall, hips swaying.

Victor looked back to Mina and Vanessa. Their heads were bent together as they talked, blonde hair brushing against black, and their fingers were intertwined. They looked so comfortable, so natural, and Victor failed to understand how that could be genuine. But it obviously was.

Was there something wrong with him? But no, Dorian said it was normal, common even, not to experience or even want any kind of attraction. And if there was one thing Dorian Gray was an expert on, it was human beings and their relationships.

“Right,” he told the cooing couple. “I’ll leave you two to it, then.” He had research to do.


	2. Brona

Brona sighed heavily when she saw Dorian Gray walk towards their table. He'd been flirting for a while now, and she'd even found weird Romantic poems in her bag during the last few weeks. They were anonymous, but it had to be him. 

She elbowed her boyfriend. “Ethan, there’s Gray again.”

Ethan looked over his shoulder. “Oh.”

“You don’t sound too bothered.”

“I don’t especially mind a cute guy flirting with us,” Ethan said, smiling at her.

Brona bristled. “You’re attracted to him!”

“Have you seen him? Of course I’m attracted to him.” Ethan turned towards her so they were facing each other. “I thought we’d established that. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to cheat on you.”

Right. As if there was any reason he'd choose Brona over that - that pretty _boy_. 

“Go fuck ‘im, see if I care.” Brona smacked her hands on the tabletop and stood up violently. She sent Gray a murderous look that stopped him right in his tracks, and stalked out of the Great Hall, her hair flying behind her. Half the Gryffindor table watched her leave.

She hadn’t even reached the main stairs yet when she heard Ethan’s footstep right behind her. “Brona, wait!”

He put a hand on her shoulder, gentle but insistent. Scowling, she turned around and crossed her arms.

"I love you, Brona." Ethan's voice was soft and sweet, both his hands resting lightly on her upper arms. "I think you're fucking amazing, and gorgeous, and funny, and strong, and I like that Dorian apparently sees it too. And I'm obviously flattered that he seems to find me attractive.." He chuckled. "But if you don't want anything to happen, nothing will happen. I'm not throwing our relationship away for a shag with Dorian ‘I'm The Fucking Textbook Definition Of Promiscous’ Gray, however hot he may be. I'll never do anything that makes you unhappy, if I can help it."

"Why? I'm a freak!" Brona spat. "A freak with a life expectancy of forty, if I'm lucky. Why would you bother with me?"

Ethan's face fell, and a pang of guilt made Brona clench her jaw. She had wanted to hurt him, and it had worked, but he was so easy to hurt...

Ethan closed his eyes, opened them again. "Please don't call yourself that."

Brona nodded curtly. When other people called her a freak, it made Ethan furious. When she did, it just made him really sad. He didn't deserve to be sad.

"And..." Ethan took a deep breath. "Whether you live until you're twenty, or forty, or sixty -"  
Brona started to protest – sixty? That was ludicrous - even with the help of magic, people with CF just didn't live that long – but Ethan cut her off. 

"No, wait. However long you live, I'll be grateful for the time we have together."

Brona smiled and uncrossed her arms, taking a step closer to Ethan so she was standing almost against his chest. "You're an idiot, Chandler. But you're my idiot."

"I am." Ethan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a kiss. 

When they broke apart, Brona rested her head against his chest. "Ethan?" she asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"Would you - would you rather I'd have stayed a boy?"

She felt his entire body jolt as he jerked his head back. "What?" He took her by the shoulders and pushed her slightly away from him so he could look her in the face. "No, Brona, fuck no! Why would you think that?"

"I thought... I thought that might be why you liked Gray flirting with you. Because you wanted a boyfriend, not a girlfriend."

"I'm bisexual, Brona, I don't give a fuck. Besides, you've always been a girl. Your" – he made a vague hand-wavey gesture – "general appearance doesn’t change that."

Brona pursed her lips. "So you don't care that I've got a cunt now, and not a cock?"

Ethan rolled his eyes, and Brona giggled. For someone who swore like a sailor, he sure reacted weirdly to his girlfriend using strong language.

"I do care," Ethan said softly, "because you're happier this way. That's all that matters."

Brona kissed him again. "I love you, you romantic twat." She took his hand and dragged him in the direction of the stairs. "Let's go to bed, tomorrow is a big day. We wouldn't want to lose to Hufflepuff, would we?"

***

The next morning, they were on the pitch at dawn. Brona and Ethan made a detour by the kitchens to provide breakfast for the team. Brona was a demanding Captain, but her players needed their strength. The team changed into their Quidditch robes and polished their brooms one last time, and soon, they heard the teams being announced outside on the pitch.

"Right," Brona said. "Let's kick their arses."

She slung her bat over her shoulder and walked out, her team filing behind her. In the stands, the crowd was clapping and cheering. Mina shook her hand with a warm but determined smile, and Brona grinned back. She liked the Hufflepuff Captain. They had a healthy sportsman rivalry, but they got along well and had similar ideas about the sport.

There was the sharp sound of a whistle, and up into the air they went. Brona looked around and found Ethan right where she expected him to be: at the other end of the pitch. They'd been playing Beater together since Third Year, and had been friends for two years longer;two little kids who spent much more time than they'd like in the Hospital Wing. By now, they worked together like a well-oiled machine. 

A familiar voice rang out over the pitch, and Brona recognised Dorian Gray standing on the commentator's stand, an oversized megaphone looking oddly sensual pressed against his lips.

"Quaffle to Mina Murray! Highly talented Chaser, that one, if I may say so. Obviously, my opinion has nothing to do with the fact that I sleep with her and her girlfriend on a regular ba - excuse me, Professor Jekyll just reminded me that there are innocent little ears present. I didn't say anything." 

Brona snorted. What an idiot. In the corner of her eye, she saw Vanessa giving Dorian the finger from the Slytherin stands, but Mina stoically ignored him. She was in Brona's part of the pitch, getting dangerously close to the Gryffindor hoops. And there were no Bludgers in the vicinity. That should mean - aha! On the other side of the pitch, Ethan swung his bat, and a Bludger came flying towards Brona. She intercepted it with a grunt and sent it right into Mina's trajectory. Mina ducked, but dropped the Quaffle, right into the hands of a waiting Gryffindor Chaser.

"And a beautiful manoeuvre by Gryffindor Captain Brona Croft!" Gray announced. "She's a fiery one. I have to admit I have my eye on her and her boyfriend - sorry Professor, won't happen again."

"In your dreams, Gray!" Brona shouted. Dorian seemed to want to reply, but, "Oh! Gryffindor lost the Quaffle, and it's back in the hands of the Hufflepuff Captain!" 

Brona looked around frantically for a Bludger, but Ethan was faster than her. A Bludger whizzed a mere three feet from Mina's nose, but this time, she didn't drop the Quaffle. She reached the Gryffindor hoops, aimed, and - "Fuck!“Brona swore - she scored. 

The crowd cheered, and Brona distinctly heard Vanessa shouting, "That's my girl!" Grinning widely, Mina blew her a kiss.

After about an hour and a half of the game, the score was 180 to 90 for Hufflepuff, and Brona was fuming. She and Ethan did their best, but they couldn't block every Chaser. Their Chasers just weren't effective enough, and the new Keeper was worse. Granted, she was only a Third Year and the nerves were probably getting to her, but Brona wanted to win this, dammit! This was her only year as team Captain, and she was going to win the Cup.

She flew over to her Seeker. "I need you to catch the Snitch as fast as possible. If Hufflepuff scores any more goals, we seriously risk losing the Cup."

"I can't promise anything," the girl said, "but I'll do my very best, obviously."

"You'd better!" Brona turned around and joined Ethan by the Hufflepuff hoops.

"Change of strategy," she told him. "You're defence. Move to the other side of the pitch and stop any Hufflepuff Chaser that comes our way, we can't let any more goals through. I'll tail their Seeker to make sure he doesn't catch the Snitch."

"Yes, miss!" Ethan smiled and flew off. 

Brona had been keeping an eye on the Hufflepuff Seeker for barely ten minutes - enough time for her Keeper to let yet another goal through - when he suddenly zoomed off, higher and higher into the sky. God fucking dammit, where had the Bludgers gone? Brona scanned the pitch, and finally saw one, halfway across the pitch. Too far, too far, how would she ever get there on time? She sent a mental prayer to the Snitch to please please please fly fast, and pushed her broom to maximum velocity, the wind whistling deafeningly in her ears. Keeping an eye on the Hufflepuff Seeker, she saw that her own Seeker had apparently noticed what was going on. She dived towards the Snitch - it was further from her than from the other Seeker, but gravity was in her favour. Brona hoped to God - Merlin - whoever - that it would be enough.

As she neared the Bludger, she felt a familiar tickle in her chest. Oh no, oh no, not now! She gritted her teeth against the feeling and swallowed, trying to buy enough time to reach the Bludger. It was so close! She swung her bat, spontaneously calculating the right angle, and sent the Bludger zooming towards the Hufflepuff Seeker. With the effort of the movement, the coughing fit got the best of her, and she folded in two as coughs wracked her body, holding on desperately despite the Charms Ethan had put on her broom to make sure she didn't fall off in situations like these. She hadn't even had the time to see if her Bludger had helped.

Ethan was by her side in a matter of seconds.

"Are you alright?" He put one hand on her chest and patted her back with the other, his bat clamped between his knees. "Shhh, it's okay, you're okay. We won, Brona, we won, you're amazing. Can't you hear them cheering?"

She could. The crowd was clapping and chanting and stamping their feet. - the entire pitch resonated with the noise. 

"Gryffindor wins with 240 to 190!" Gray was shouting, but he could barely be heard above the racket. Brona smiled broadly through her coughs and clasped Ethan's hand on her chest with her own. 

When her coughs subsided, she found herself surrounded with the entire Gryffindor team, waiting patiently for the obligatory post-match group hug. Brona beamed at them. "Come here, you lot, I'm fine," and then there were six bodies pressing against hers. They flew down to the ground in a big tangle of brooms and limbs. The entire Gryffindor House was on the pitch, wanting to congratulate them. Brona couldn't stop smiling.

***

She lingered in the showers after the game, enjoying the feeling of the warm water rinsing away all the sweat and dirt. Ethan called her name, but she told him to go ahead and join the party in the Common Room, she'd be along soon.

As she got dressed, she heard Mina singing in the adjacent changing rooms. Apparently, the other Captain wanted some time on her own too. Suddenly, Brona remembered what Dorian Gray had said at the beginning of the game. She knocked on the door that separated her from the other girl.

"Mina?"

The singing stopped. "Yes?"

"Can I come in? I want to talk to you about something."

"Sure, give me a second to get decent."

A few moments later, Mina opened the door, a towel wrapped turban-style around her head. "What's going on?" she asked.

Brona walked in and sat down on one of the benches. "I understand that this is none of my business, but.... is it true, what Gray said on the pitch?"

Mina raised her eyebrows. "What, that he has threesomes with Van and me?" She seemed entirely unfazed.

"Yes, that."

"It's true, yes. Why are you asking?"

"I..." Brona hesitated. "What about you and Vanessa then? Don't you love each other?"

Mina looked shocked. "Of course we love each other! She's the love of my life, and I know she feels the same way about me. What we do with Dorian doesn't negate that in the slightest. Sex with him is fun and we get along well, but he'd never get in the way of our relationship."

Brona felt a bit lost. "But how does it work, then?"

"We talk about everything. If any of us, at any time, for any reason, wants to renegotiate, or even wants out, we respect that. Communication goes a long way, you know." Mina looked at her pensively. "He wants you and Ethan, hm? That's what this is about?"

Brona nodded. "Yes. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, he's hot, that's for sure, and it's not like I'm conservative in bed - I like smacking Ethan around a bit - "

"Whoa, whoa!" Mina held up her hands. "I'm not sure I want to know that."

"Sorry." Brona smiled a bit sheepishly. "it's just that... I don't want this to screw up what Ethan and I have, you see?"

"I see." Mina put a hand on her shoulder. "But it doesn't have to, you know. Communication, like I said. And you and Ethan seem to genuinely care about each other. Dorian doesn't want to break couples up, you know. He just likes sex and attractive people."

Brona wrinkled her forehead in thought. If this worked for Mina and Vanessa, maybe it could work for her and Ethan too.

"But ultimately," Mina added, "it's your decision. Ethan's a good guy. He'd never force you into anything. And Dorian actually does respect people's boundaries, despite appearances."

Brona nodded slowly. "You're right. I'll think about it." She smiled at Mina. "Thank you, I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Mina said. "Now go along, you're missing a party in your honour. Good game, by the way. Really."

"Thank you." On an impulse, she pulled the other girl in a tight hug. "Go celebrate too. You deserve it."


	3. Caliban

Caliban was scowling darkly as he walked down the hall. He'd had a horrible day. It was a Monday, which meant he'd only had useless and uninteresting classes (Charms, Herbology, and History of Magic), and when he'd tried to study for Ancient Runes in the library, he'd accidentally come across Maud kissing her boyfriend - Simon, that absolute berk. Her rejection still stung, and he'd walked away in a strop. What did that insipid fool have that he didn't have double? Well, looks, obviously, but Maud didn't strike him as that superficial. And yet, when he'd finally worked up the courage to confess his true feelings to her, she'd turned him down. 

It mattered not. In the two weeks - well, twelve days, to be precise - since Maud had turned him down, he'd realised he'd been blinded by the first close relationship he'd ever had with a girl, and had confused friendship for romantic love. 

Then, his eye had fallen on the lovely Brona Croft, and he had seen the light. This was the true love of his life, the woman he was meant to be with, his future bride. They'd had a few conversations - mostly about trivial things: homework, the weather - and she had been very kind to him, even laughed a few times. That must mean she was well-disposed towards him. She had looked at him strangely when he'd asked her opinion on 19th century British poets, though, but he'd taken that to mean she didn't know much about the subject, so he had sneaked some of his favourite poems into her school bag when she wasn't looking.

Caliban's train of thought was derailed when he saw the object of his affections walking towards him from the other side of the deserted hall. She was wearing those fetching Quidditch robes, and her Beater's bat was swinging idly by her side. 

This was his chance. Gathering up all his courage, he kept walking towards her, his most engaging smile on his face. She smiled back as she walked past him. 

Acting on a last impulse, he spun on his heel and called out to her. "Brona!"

She turned around. "Yes, Caliban?"

He tried to appear placid and composed, but couldn't help wringing his hands. "I was wondering... Would it please you...? I thought you might like to - to come down to the lake with me tonight? I hear it's the full moon, the view should be wonderful. We could discuss poetry, if you wanted, or anything else that strikes your fancy..."

Brona's eyes widened in understanding. "You're the one who left those poems in my bag!" Her face crumpled into an unbecoming frown. "Caliban, are you coming on to me?"

"I thought...” Caliban bit his lip. She couldn’t be upset, could she? “You've always been friendly to me…"

“And that must mean I was flirting with you?” Brona look of disappointment was slowly merging into one of looming fury.

Caliban took a step backwards. “Why else…?”

In one fluid movement, Brona had him pinned against the wall, hand on his throat. Her other hand held her bat threateningly under his nose. Caliban went a bit cross-eyed trying to keep his eyes on it.

"Listen here, fuckface," Brona fumed. "I was being friendly because I was not opposed to being friends with you. What is it with entitled arseholes like you and thinking that a girl being nice to you means she must want to get in your pants?"

"I never - "

"Fuck off!" Her voice was getting increasingly loud, and Caliban hoped to God no one would be alarmed by thenoise and find him in such a humiliating situation. "I don't give a shit what you have to say! Why would I be interested in you that way? I have a boyfriend, you dickhead, I think that's obvious enough!"

Of course Caliban had noticed Ethan Chandler, but he was just a high school fling, wasn't he? That meant nothing in the face of true love!

But Brona seemed genuinely furious. "The next time you decide to act like a fucking creepy stalker, I'll set up a date for you with this little beauty here." She jerked her chin to indicate her bat, that hadn't moved an inch from its position, mere inches from Caliban's face. "How dare you just assume I'd jump at the chance to date you, you bigheaded fucker!"

She whirled around and stalked away without granting him another look. Caliban heard her mutter, "Fucking twat” under her breath.

He stood unmoving, glued to the wall in shock. How dare she! How did she have the audacity to treat him in such a despicable way after he'd made her a well-meaning and reasonable proposition? How could she deny the undeniable emotional and intellectual pull between them? She'd acted as if the very idea that she might be interested in him was ludicrous, offensive even. Did everyone think that little of him, then? Would he ever know companionship and love? Or would he forever stay an outcast, unloved, unwanted, unworthy?

He'd go down to the lake by himself, then. The cold November night might soothe him in his tormented state.

***

As he gazed at the light of the moon glistening on the dark lake's mirror-like surface, pondering the fundamental unfairness of life and love, Caliban suddenly noticed a figure slipping through the castle's heavy doors. At first, he thought it was just someone rejoining their lover for a midnight tryst, but as the person got closer to him, he recognised Victor Frankenstein. That made the lover theory quite unlikely. Victor was carrying what seemed like a heavy bag and unceasingly looked around, as if to make sure he wasn't being watched. He didn't seem to notice Caliban, though. He must be hidden in the shadows of the weeping willow.

Victor walked up to the Whomping Willow - Caliban hated that tree, it was a disgrace to its noble cousins - and looked around in the floor. He bent over and picked up what looked like a long stick and seemed to poke the trunk of the flailing tree with it multiple times. To Caliban's astonishment, the tree froze. Victor dropped to his hands and knees and, dragging the bag behind him, crawled underneath the tree.

Caliban was baffled. What, in the name of all that was holy, was Victor doing? He decided to follow him. There was no way in heaven Caliban would ever give up an opportunity to spy on his infuriating step-brother.

He ran across the grass to the Whomping Willow. To his relief, it stayed unmoving, and he had no trouble finding the hole Victor had slipped through. He did the same thing, and found himself in a dark corridor. A secret passageway! 

Caliban followed the low tunnel, treading as softly as possible. He could make out Victor's footsteps a short distance ahead of him. After a few minutes, the footsteps stopped, and he saw a sliver of light illuminating Victor's silhouette. A door! The light disappeared when Victor closed it behind him, and Caliban waited a few heartbeats before following him into the house. To his relief, the door didn't creak when he entered. 

The house was old, made entirely of wood and covered in cobwebs. The furniture - a big oak table and three mismatched chairs - looked like it might collapse if you blew on it softly. There was a rickety flight of stairs leading to the first floor, and Victor was walking up them, the ancient wood creaking with every step. Caliban stayed in the shadows, careful not to be seen or heard.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream tore through the house. Victor froze in the middle of the stairs, looking around like a deer caught in headlights. For a few seconds, he didn't move, and then he sprinted in the direction of the scream, into the upstairs room.

Throwing caution in the wind, Caliban dashed after him. He had barely reached the top of the stairs when he heard another scream. It was definitely a man's voice. There was silence, and then the unmistakable sound of Victor's voice, sounding breathless with terror. "Oh no, oh _no_."

Caliban ran into the room and froze on the spot. On the bed, arching and convulsing in agony, was a boy he only knew too well: Ethan Chandler.

Ethan's limbs twisted unnaturally, hair sprouting from his skin at an alarming speed. His head snapped back, and his third scream ended in a howl. When Caliban caught a glimpse of his face, his eyes were yellow.

"Werewolf," Caliban breathed. Then, his survival instinct kicked in, and he grabbed Victor by the arm. "Run!"

He dragged Victor out of the room, down the stairs, through the door, running as fast as he could. He slammed the door behind them and had the presence of mind to bolt it shut, but he didn't stop running until they'd reached the end of the corridor. He pushed Victor in front of him, and they both crawled through the hole beneath the Whomping Willow, panting heavily. They ran across the grass to the promised safety of the castle and slipped through the doors as fast as possible. Once inside the brightly lit hall, the threat appeared less imminent, but they still climbed the stairs two at a time, not caring that they might be caught after curfew. When they arrived in front of the eagle knocker guarding the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower, it asked them, "Is forgiveness only deserved when the culprit is truly repentant, or does the victim's peace of heart and mind suffice?"

"I don't give a fuck," Victor hissed. "Just let us in!"

In normal circumstances, Caliban would have found the question fascinating, but for once he found himself agreeing with Victor. He longed for nothing but the safety of their Common Room.

The eagle looked offended, but the wall slid open without further complaint. Caliban and Victor tumbled through it and sank to the floor, their breaths coming in sharp gasps.

Victor turned to Caliban, a determined expression on his face. "Whatever you do, don't tell _anyone_ about Ethan," he whispered harshly.

Caliban set his jaw in affront. "I would never. I know only too well what it's like to be ostracised from society for something you can't help, I - "

"Caliban," Victor rudely interrupted him, "I really don't care about how pathetic you are. I just want you to promise you'll keep your mouth shut."

Caliban scowled. "I'll be as silent as the grave, I swear to everything I hold dear."

Victor stared at him intently, and sighed in blatant relief. "Good." 

He stood up and told the wall to open. It stayed obstinately shut.

"Where are you _going_?" Caliban asked. He couldn't believe Victor would voluntarily leave the Common Room, not after what they'd just seen.

"Stuff to do," Victor said curtly. "Oh come on, open, you!" He told the wall. "Don't act so offended! It was an emergency!"

The wall slid open with palpable reluctance, and Victor disappeared into the darkness of the Hogwarts corridors.


	4. Mina

Mina's head snapped up when the door to the Room of Requirement opened with a bang. Victor stormed in and slammed the door behind him. "We have a problem."

Mina wiped a hand over her chin and pulled the sheet up to cover herself. She was mildly irked by the fact that he'd gotten in so easily. Admittedly, thinking “I need to see Vanessa Ives,” had probably done the trick, but still. Mina’s head had been between Vanessa’s thighs half a second ago, and Vanessa herself was tied to the headboard with a tie on each wrist - one black-and-yellow, one silver-and-green. The bastard didn’t even do them the courtesy of reacting to their current position. 

Vanessa turned her head towards him, her black curls shifting against the pillow. “Do tell?”

"Ethan is a werewolf." Victor said, still breathless. He had probably run across half the castle to get here.

Mina dropped her head against the mattress. Great. Publicly announce a person’s biggest secret, one that could get them in serious trouble or even killed, why don’t you, Frankenstein? Vanessa called him the “stupendous fuck-up” sometimes, and Mina was starting to see where she was coming from.

"Yes, and?" Vanessa didn’t even sound surprised. Had she known? Or at least suspected? It was likely.

"And? He could tear himself to pieces during a full moon, Vanessa! We have to do something!"

Vanessa turned her head again and stared at the ceiling. “We could become Animagi.” Yup, she had suspected already - she had obviously given the subject some thought. 

"That would take ages! He could die next month, we have to act fast!" Victor sounded genuinely concerned, but Mina noted that the fact that becoming unregistered Animagi was highly illegal didn’t seem to faze him in the slightest.

"Unless…" Victor stared pensively at the mounted animals displayed on shelves that covered the walls entirely. Dorian never stopped teasing them about it. "Sexydermy getaway", indeed. The idiot. He wasn’t so cocky when they had him tied up to this very bed. 

"Unless," Victor continued, now sounding more sure of himself, "we can find a way of turning those into automatons."

Looking intrigued, Vanessa tried to sit up, but the ties on her wrists stopped her mid-movement. Mina reached for her wand, lying on the heap of clothes at the foot of the bed. She waved it, murmuring a spell, and the ties unknotted themselves and slithered off Vanessa's wrists.

Vanessa smiled at her in thanks and turned to Victor. "Automatons, you say? Are you thinking of a simple Reanimation spell, or of something more permanent?"

"Why don't we get dressed before having this conversation, hm?" Mina suggested. 

Victor nodded gratefully and Mina giggled to herself. Victor's capacity to be alternately utterly unfazed and obviously uncomfortable was endlessly amusing.

She handed her clothes to Vanessa, and quickly got dressed herself. Vanessa just pulled her robe over her shoulders, not bothering to put anything else on.

"So, any concrete ideas?" she asked.

"Wait a second," Mina said, holding up a hand. "Can we go back to the start of this conversation, please? The part where you both agreed that Ethan is a werewolf? Are we absolutely sure about that?"

"I saw him transform, Mina."

"What?" Vanessa gasped.

"I was in the Shrieking Shack. He was in the upstairs bedroom. I heard him scream, went to investigate, and found him mid-transformation. He would probably have eaten me if Caliban hadn't dragged me away."

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "What in the name of Merlin were you and Caliban doing in the Shrieking Shack?" 

"I wanted to set up a lab there, like you and Dorian told me to do!" Victor said, looking affronted. "And Caliban, who knows, probably spying on me. It's a bit of a hobby of his."

"We didn't mean by night, you idiot!" Vanessa spluttered. "You don't mess with the Shrieking Shack by night. I thought that would have been obvious!"

"How the hell was I supposed to know that?" Victor asked.

"I don't know, by using your common sense, maybe?"

"Alright, alright," Mina said placatingly. "Now that we've established that Ethan really is a werewolf - "

"We already knew that," Vanessa interrupted her. "He misses Divination every full moon, and Brona is always extraordinarily evasive about it. It was really obvious."

Mina smiled fondly. "We can't all be geniuses like you, love." She poked her girlfriend in the ribs. "Now, how about we go back to finding a way to make this easier for Ethan?"

Victor wrinkled his forehead in thought. "The ideal solution would probably be to create animals we can easily reanimate once a month without having to do all the complicated work all over again."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to reanimate an animal once and for all?" Mina asked.

"How would you care for it during the rest of the month?" Vanessa pointed out. "We need a pretty big animal, the kind that's able to subdue Ethan if necessary. It would just be too hard to hide a dog or a bear or whatever in between full moons."

"A bear?" Mina squeaked.

"Just an idea. My point being that if a small, live animal were enough, we could just use Bastet and save ourselves the trouble."

Mina scowled at her girlfriend. "We are _not_ putting our cat in danger."

"I know, my dear. I'm not any keener on seeing her hurt than you are. Anyway, normal animals are terrified of werewolves; it would be completely pointless to make them try to stay in the same room."

Oh. That explained Ethan's utter incompetence at Care For Magical Creatures in Third Year, until he'd finally dropped the subject.

"Besides," Victor mused, "we would probably need a way to control the subject from a distance, so we could react intelligently if needed, and the ethical implications of taking control of a living creature's body are quite complicated."

Mina gaped at him. "And raising literal animal Inferi doesn't strike you as mildly unethical?" Merlin, and she'd thought Vanessa was occasionally illogical about the legal and ethical ramifications of magic. Victor was on an entirely other level.

"It's different!" Victor looked at her with wide eyes. "It's for _Ethan_ , Mina. Surely in this case the end justifies the means?"

Mina found she couldn't argue with that. "Fine," she sighed. "I'm in. What's the plan?"

"What do you know about Inferi?" Vanessa asked Victor.

"Most of the theory, but not enough to put into practice."

"Right, we will need access to the Restricted Section, then. That's your job, Mina. You can ask Professor Sembene, he shouldn't be too difficult about it."

"Why me?" Mina asked. "You know him as well as I do, both of you practically live at our house during summer."

"Yes, but he likes you better." Vanessa smiled fondly and stroked Mina's cheek. "Everyone likes you better."

Mina rubbed her cheek against Vanessa's palm. She always had such soft hands. "That's a lie, and you know it. But I'll do it."

"Thank you," Vanessa whispered into her ear. "You can adapt the spells to an animal's physiology, right?" she asked Victor.

He looked almost offended. "Of course I can!"

"Good. Then we just have to find a way to control the subject."

"A modified Imperius should work just fine," Victor said.

Mina rolled her eyes. Unforgivables. Of course. Why restrain yourself when you could push the limits far beyond the realm of the remotely legal? She just hoped they wouldn't all end up in Azkaban.

"Wait a minute!" Victor suddenly exclaimed. "We forgot something! How will we keep an eye on Ethan and the subject? If we have to stay in the Shack to be able to control it, we'll end up werewolves at best, and werewolf food at worst."

"Damn," Vanessa swore. "You're right." She looked thoughtful. "Binoculars Charm?"

"Doesn't work through walls," Victor said. "We could send a Patronus along with the subject? One of us would have to learn to cast a long-lasting corporeal Patronus, but since we're seeing them in DADA, that shouldn't be insurmountable."

Vanessa shook her head. "Useless. A Patronus is too human. It's basically the essence of our soul; it would drive the wolf crazy."

"You're arguing that a Patronus is what makes us human?" Victor asked, intrigued. "What about Muggles, then? And Squibs? Are they not human?"

"Of course they are! You're being deliberately obtuse! I'm only saying that a _soul_ is what makes us human. A Patronus is merely a personification of that."

Growing bored of the philosophical debate, Mina rested her head on Vanessa's shoulder and let her gaze drift around the room. A particularly handsome eagle was staring at her from the top of the bookshelf, its eyes glittering in the light. 

"How about a potion?" Vanessa asked, her breath tickling Mina's face as she spoke. "An Oculus Potion could work, if we could find a linking ingredient that would show us what the subject was seeing?"

"Won't work. Potions require a functional metabolism to be effective."

"Couldn't we inject some into the subject's eyes or something?" 

Eyes. _Eyes_. Mina could feel an idea forming in the back of her mind, but it obstinately stayed just out of her reach. 

"No." Victor said. "The active ingredients in the vast majority of potions bond with haemoglobin, and our subject won't have an active circulatory system."

Couldn't they just shut up for a second? She was trying to concentrate here! Irritated, she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, and her gaze fell on a mounted squirrel that seemed to look at her inquisitively. Vanessa's trick with the mirrors really added to the life-likeness of their models.

Mina's head shot up. "Mirrors! That's it!"

Vanessa and Victor stared at her as if she had gone crazy. 

"Mirrors?" Vanessa asked. "What do you mean?"

"You know the thing you do with the mounted animals?" Mina explained, excitedly bouncing up and down on the bed. "Put mirrors in their eyes so they seem more alive?"

"Yes..." Vanessa obviously failed to understand where this was going.

"And you know those mirrors Dad brought us back from Kenya? The ones that allow us to communicate with each other wherever we are?"

Vanessa's eyes widened in understanding. "Mina," she breathed reverently, "you are a _genius_."

"Could somebody please explain to me what's going on?" Victor asked in obvious annoyance.

Vanessa turned to him. "It's so simple! If we put shards of one Two-Way Mirror into the subject's eyes, and keep the other one with us, we'll be able to see through the subject's eyes!"

Victor's mouth fell open in a silent "Oh," and he nodded, very slowly. "Yes... Yes, that should work!" 

Vanessa wrapped her arm around Mina's shoulders and planted a kiss against her temple. "My brilliant, _brilliant_ darling."

Victor already had his hand on the doorknob. "I'll see you tomorrow," he told them. "I'm going - "

"To the library," Vanessa and Mina chorused.

"Precisely," Victor said. Then, he was gone.

Vanessa turned to Mina with a predatory grin. "Now, where were we?"


	5. Proteus

Proteus shivered and pulled their robes tighter around themself. The crisp morning air was making their cheeks tingle, and they thought longingly of the roaring fireplace in the cozy Common Room. The rest of the Hufflepuff Fifth Years had a free period on Tuesday morning, but Proteus dedicated all of their free periods to helping out in the greenhouses or for the Care Of Magical Creatures class. Today was a Magical Creatures day. Professor Moreau was going to start the lessons on Unicorns with the Seventh Years, and he had kindly invited Proteus to join - as long as they made themself discreet. 

They were the first to arrive at the edge of the Forbidden Forest; only Professor Moreau was already there. He was walking along the barrier of trees as a thin red ribbon sprouted from the top of his wand, demarcating a frontier.

"Hello, Proteus," he said when he saw them walking towards him. "Ready to learn all about the wonderful creatures that are unicorns?"

"Yes, sir," Proteus answered with a broad smile. Much as they loved the Fifth Year Care Of Magical Creatures program, they were very grateful to be allowed to follow extra classes. Crups were adorable, sure, but Thestrals and unicorns were so much more interesting.

The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Seventh Years started arriving from the castle, wrapped in woollen hats and scarves, and Proteus went to stand at the edge of the group. They noticed Victor standing a short distance from them, and waved at him. Victor nodded in acknowledgement, and even gave them a small smile, which was more than Proteus had expected. Caliban was standing almost at the other end of the group, but he didn't react to Proteus's greeting. Not that they had expected otherwise. Caliban generally acted as though Proteus didn't exist, unless it was to make an unfriendly remark. Some people thought it was because of the agender thing, but that wasn't it. He had been acting that way since long before Proteus came out. It was just an older sibling thing. Or a Caliban thing. Probably the latter.

Professor Moreau cleared his throat and all conversations suddenly ceased.

"Today," he said, "I will be teaching you about unicorns. They are very shy animals and will not let just anybody approach them. There exists a popular myth stating that they favour girls, but that belief is incorrect. Unicorns are attracted to purity and innocence, which used to be more prevalent in young women at the time of the first studies on unicorns - simply because the girls in question rarely had the opportunity to do anything that was less than innocent. Since now, however, you're all equally depraved..." He gave the class an appraising look. "Let's see who of you will manage to feed them, shall we? If you're lucky, they'll even let you pet them, and you might get your hands on a very valuable unicorn hair. I promise to act as if I didn't see you."

A few student rose on their tiptoes, eager looks on their faces. Others looked at their shoes and hunched their shoulders, avoiding the Professor's stare.

"Miss Murray!" his voice boomed across the grounds. "Why don't you try?"

"Me?" Mina raised an incredulous eyebrow. "I don't think that's going to work, sir."

"We'll see about that." He motioned to the trees. "Go on."

Mina ducked under the ribbon and took a few steps forward. She stood still, and waited. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but after a few minutes, Proteus noticed a flash of white behind the trees. A unicorn! It was gorgeous, delicate and elegant, and yet powerful enough to hold its horn aloft effortlessly. Cautiously, it came closer, until the front half of its body was in the open. There, it stopped. It seemed to examine Mina, its big silver eyes fixed on her. Mina looked back just as intently. The unicorn shook its head, snorted almost derisively, and turned around to disappear back from where it came.

"Told you it wouldn't work," Mina said, her voice almost prideful, and she walked back to the group.

"Well," Moreau said, and scanned the group again. His gaze stopped on Victor, and Proteus repressed a chuckle. No one in their right mind would ever call Victor "pure and innocent," but he was definitely a virgin. Academics and their pretty euphemisms.

"Your turn, Mister Frankenstein." Professor Moreau said. Victor shot him a dark look, but did as he was told.

He had only been standing under the trees for a few moments when a unicorn appeared. It barely paused before walking over to him, close enough to touch. Victor looked at it dubiously. 

"Go on," Moreau exhorted Victor in a whisper. "Pet it."

Victor extended a careful hand and rested it against the creature's forehead. When it didn't move, he started stroking with slow gentle motions. 

Before long, there were three more unicorns standing around him, among them one foal, its coat still brilliant gold. It nuzzled against Victor's side, and Proteus would have given everything they had to be in Victor's place. Sadly, they were only allowed to look from afar - which was still better than the other Fifth Years.

After a while, a few other students were allowed to join the unicorns. As soon as they did, Victor ducked back underneath the ribbon, leaving his cooing classmates behind.

He came to stand next to Proteus.

"So, you get to study those wretched things two years ahead of time, do you?"

"They aren't wretched!" Proteus protested. "They're marvellous and fascinating creatures."

"They have a frankly disturbing interest in people's sex lives, if you ask me," Victor grumbled. "But anyway, if you're allowed to be here, that must mean you're very good at Care For Magical Creatures, no? Moreau is not exactly renowned for his leniency."

"I got an O on every assignment this year, yes," Proteus said, blushing a bit. "Caliban is not impressed. He says it's not a real subject."

"Caliban is a pompous, pretentious arsehole."

Proteus stifled a giggle. That was rich, coming from him!

Victor pushed his hands inside his pockets.

"I was wondering..."

Ah, there it was. He needed something from them. That didn't exactly come as a surprise.

"Since you know so much about magical creatures," Victor continued, "and since you get to help Moreau, do you happen to know of any animals that died in the last few weeks?"

Died? Why? Proteus decided they didn't want to know.

"I guess you don't mean Flobberworms? Because those die by buckets."

Victor shook his head.

"That's what I thought. A few Nifflers got ill with some kind of magical virus," they answered, "and three of them died. And last week, Lucy accidentally poisoned a Crup. She got a T on her assignment, the poor girl."

Victor's face lit up. "A Crup? Those are the two-tailed dogs, right?"

"Yup." Obviously, Victor's feelings about Magical Creatures were similar to Caliban's. If he wasn't even sure what Crups were, that meant he hadn't paid much attention to the class.

"Do you know where it's buried?" Victor asked excitedly.

"Yes, in the Forbidden Forest, not very far from the path. I helped bury it. Why - " 

They didn't get to finish their sentence.

"Can you meet me here at midnight, tonight?" Victor gripped Proteus' arm almost painfully. "To show me the exact spot?"

Proteus gaped at him. "Going into the Forbidden Forest at night? Victor, are you _mad_? There are Acromentulas in there, not to mention worse things!"

"It's absolutely vital." Victor said haughtily.

"Why? Even if we don't get eaten by something terrifying, we could get expelled over this!"

"You wouldn't understand." 

Of course they wouldn't. It was always the same thing with Victor. 

"Please?" Victor's expression had turned pleading - a rarity. "I'll take the blame if we get caught. I wouldn't ask this of you if it weren't genuinely important, I promise."

Yes, he would. Victor's definition of "important" was unusual to say the least.

Proteus looked at Victor, his bright eyes, the spots of colour high on his cheeks, his fingers still digging in Proteus's upper arm.

They sighed. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Thank you!" Victor released his grip. "Be here at midnight. I'll bring two friends."

Proteus barely had the time to wonder since when Victor had friends before he disappeared into the group of Seventh Years.

***

It was a quarter to twelve, and Proteus was standing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They'd managed to slip out without being caught, heart hammering all the way from the Hufflepuff dorms to the gamekeeper's hut.

They looked around them. Victor didn't seem to be there yet, and neither did any of his mysterious friends.

Something brushed against their arm, and they stifled a scream.

"Shhh," said Victor's voice in their ear. "It's me."

Oh. Disillusioning Charm, of course. Proteus should have thought of that.

Victor seemed to think the same thing, because there was the tap of a wand on Proteus's skull, and they shivered as a wave of cold rippled through them.

"There, that's you done too," Victor whispered. 

Proteus stared at their hand. They could see the grass through it. It was a very strange feeling.

They heard footsteps, as if someone - more than one person, actually - were walking towards them.

"Who else is here?" Proteus asked Victor.

"Vanessa and Mina."

There were twin whispers of "Hi," a few feet to his right. 

"Now, where's the Crup?" Victor sounded impatient.

"That way," Proteus said with a jerk of their chin in the direction of the small path. Suddenly realising that Victor couldn't see them, they felt around with their left hand. "Where are you?"

"Here," Victor whispered, and Proteus managed to grab his arm.

"Come on," they said, and pulled him along, into the dark forest. Dead leaves crinkled under Vanessa and Mina's feet as they followed them.

It didn't take very long to reach the spot where Proteus had helped Professor Moreau bury the unfortunate Crup. 

"It's here," Proteus said, standing between the roots of a big old tree.

"Where's here?" said Mina's voice. Right. They couldn't see them. 

They took out their wand and whispered, "Lumos."

The circle of light shone bright on the forest ground. The earth was still loose and dark where the Crup had been buried, and there were only a few leaves strewn across it.

"Alright," Victor said. Proteus heard his footstep coming closer, and then a whispered incantation. Slowly, a whirlpool of earth started rising from the ground, spinning in an arc and falling down in a neat heap a few feet to the left of the oak tree. It was quite a surreal sight, even if Proteus had been used to magic for seven years now, ever since Caliban went to Hogwarts.

Coughing a bit due to the settling dust, Proteus peered into the newly-made hole, but quickly averted their eyes. The Crup didn't look very pretty anymore. Its fur was matted and tangled, there was foam at the edges of its mouth, and there were all kinds of bugs crawling all over it.

Victor, however, seemed utterly unfazed. He incanted a "Wingardium Leviosa," and the animal's corpse rose from the ground, stopping to hover at eye-level. 

"Someone else fill the hole, please," Victor said. Proteus heard Vanessa obey, and all the earth flew neatly back where it belonged. Proteus walked over it to make it more even, and kicked a few leaves over it for good measure. They shone the land of their wand over it to make sure it looked like it should, and suddenly froze.

There were footsteps coming from the other side of the path.

"Well, that's it, then," Victor started saying, but Proteus hushed him. They listened intently. The footsteps were getting closer.

With a start, they realised they'd left the light of their wand on. They whispered a hasty "Nox," but it was too late.

"Who's there?" asked Professor Moreau's voice. Proteus flattened themself against the tree, staying as silent as possible. Their heart was pounding in their ears. They could hear the others' breathing, light and superficial, and covered their own mouth with their hand.

Professor Moreau's footsteps came closer. The forest was suddenly very, very silent as everyone held their breath. Proteus hoped fervently that he would dismiss the whole thing as an animal or a trick of the light, but then they heard "Hominum Revelio." They felt the cold ripple of the Disillusioning Charm being removed, and barely a second later, there was a bright light shining in their eyes.

"Proteus!" Professor Moreau said in an astonished tone. "What are you doing here?" 

He looked around, shining his wand on all of them. "And Mr Frankenstein! And Misses Murray and Ives!" The surprise in his voice was making way for anger. "Need I remind you that the Forbidden Forest is exactly that? Forbidden? And that it's way past curfew? You should all be in your beds, not doing Merlin knows what in a very dangerous place!" 

Proteus saw his eyes widen as they fell on the floating Crup. "Oh! So that's what you're doing! Digging up dead animals!" His eyes glittered dangerously. God, they were in trouble.

Victor took a step forward. "It's my fault, sir. I convinced them all to help me. I just wanted to experiment, and there's so little material available here!" 

Proteus knew exactly how Victor looked at the moment. They had heard that tone of voice countless times, and it was always combined with irresistible puppy eyes. They always made Proteus's mother forgive Victor for whatever he'd done wrong this time - dissecting a frog on the kitchen table, using empty milk cartons to store human blood, keeping a lizard colony under his bed so he could study how their tails grew back.

To Proteus's astonishment, it seems to work on Professor Moreau too. His face mellowed out, and he put a hand on Victor's shoulder, narrowly avoiding hitting his head against the still-floating Crup.

"Mr Frankenstein," he said. "I completely understand your thirst for experimentation, and I am the first to agree that Van Helsing offers deplorably little in the way of practical study here at Hogwarts. However, next time I recommend that you come directly to me for help. I can provide you with enough experimentation subjects" - he patted the big bag hanging at his side - "without you having to go dig up half-decomposed corpses in the middle of the night, at risk of encountering an unfriendly inhabitant of the Forest."

Proteus saw Mina look at Vanessa with wide eyes. They were pretty sure their own expression was very similar to hers. 

"But next time I catch you flagrantly disobeying the school rules and putting yourself and your fellow students in danger," Professor Moreau continued in a stern voice, "believe me when I say I will not be as lenient as I am now."

Victor nodded frantically. "Yes, Professor. Thank you, Professor."

Professor Moreau removed his hand from Victor's shoulder. "Now go along. Make sure you don't get caught a second time - others won't be as understanding as I am." He turned on his heels, and disappeared between the trees.

"What," Mina asked disbelievingly, "just happened?" 

"I have no idea," Vanessa answered, "but I vote we get out of here before he comes back and decided he's changed his mind."

Victor agreed and took a step towards the path, the Crup bobbing alongside him.

"Wait," Proteus said. They all looked at them in alarm. "Disillusioning Charms," they explained, and Vanessa smacked a hand against her forehead.

"Right. I forgot." She Disillusioned them each in turn - even the Crup - and they hurried out of the Forest, back to the castle.

When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Proteus's heart was still beating fast. They really, really wanted to go to bed and get a few hours of sleep before tomorrow. They had Care For Magical Creatures in the afternoon - how would they be able to look Professor Moreau in the eye?

"Do you need help with something else?" they asked as quietly as possible. The answer was a whispered, "No. You go along and go to bed now. I don't think you'd want to know."

Proteus found they agreed with this statement. 

"Mina?" they asked. "Are you coming too?"

"No, I'm staying with them. But thank you for your help, and goodnight."

"Goodnight," Proteus answered, and they hurried down the hall.


	6. Vanessa

Vanessa gripped her wand so tight her knuckles went white. She had left frustration behind about half an hour ago and was now well into fuming territory. Why wouldn't it bloody work? Almost everyone else had managed to produce a Patronus. Mina was staring delightedly at the silvery cat rubbing up against her ankles, and even bloody Dorian had a snake draped around his shoulders! Why couldn't she do the same? She was supposed to be good at DADA, for Merlin's sake! It was one of her best subjects, second only to Divination - and she actually like Sembene, unlike Madame Kali, the insufferably pretentious woman who taught Divination. 

"Relax," Sembene said behind her. "There's no way you could produce a Patronus in the state you are in now. You can be concentrating on a happy thought as hard as you like, but it won't work unless you feel the happiness too."

Vanessa gritted her teeth. She liked Sembene, but right now she was actively resisting the urge to stab him through the eye with her wand. As if feeling happy was something she could do on command!

Sembene must have realised how she felt, because he came to stand in front of her and put both hands on her shoulders. 

"Vanessa," he said. "It's not as easy for everyone to produce a Patronus. It appeals to other things than purely magical skill, and happiness and sadness are very different depending on the person and their personal experiences. Don't be too hard on yourself."

Vanessa nodded stiffly. She'd spent the last couple of years trying to force herself to feel happy, and now she was expected to do it for a grade? 

Sembene squeezed her shoulder and walked over to another student.

Vanessa took a deep breath and raised her wand once more. She grated out "Expecto Patronum!", but only managed to produce a feeble cloud of silvery smoke, hardly more impressive than if she'd breathed out on a December night. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes and she blinked them back, hands curled into tight fists at her sides. She just wanted to give up and walk out of the class. Screw the Dementors anyway. She was pretty sure they couldn't be worse than what she went through on bad days.

A pair of arms encircled her waist and Mina's breath tickled her cheek.

"Are you okay?" she asked. 

Vanessa shook her head. "I can't do it, Mina." 

"Of course you can." One of Mina's hands came up to softly brush Vanessa's hair over her shoulder. "And if it doesn't work right now, we'll train until it does. There's still a lot of time before the N.E.W.T.S."

"But what if I _can't_?" Vanessa gripped Mina's hand, the one that was still on her waist. She was genuinely starting to think she would never succeed.

"Then you won't have an O for DADA for once, and that won't make you any less amazing." Mina nudged her nose against Vanessa's cheek, and Vanessa rested her temple against Mina's. She stayed like that for a while, breathing deeply, letting Mina hold her. 

When she felt the frustration had abated enough, she straightened up. 

"I'm going to try again," she said determinedly.

"Good." Mina took a step backward, giving Vanessa room to move, but kept her two hands resting lightly on Vanessa's hips.

Vanessa concentrated on Mina's presence behind her, on her breath against the back of her neck, her hands on her hips. This time, when she incanted, the cloud of smoke looked distinctly more solid, and it even had a vague shape. Vanessa peered at it. Were those wings? The cloud dissipated before she could be sure.

"Try again for me, love," Mina said. Vanessa raised the hand that held her wand. The other one was clasped over Mina's left hand. She closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, and said, "Expecto Patronum!"

Mina's delighted gasp prompted Vanessa to open her eyes, and her mouth curved into a surprised smile. About two feet from her face, a majestic-looking raven was lazily flapping its wings. 

"I did it," she breathed, and Mina squeezed her hip. "You did."

Vanessa held out a hand, and the raven came to perch on her shoulder. It was a strange feeling. She knew it was there, but it was absolutely weightless. She couldn't even feel its sharp-looking talons gripping her shoulder.

From the other side of the room, Sembene smiled at her. Vanessa felt her heart swell inside her chest and beamed back. This was maybe the third time she'd ever seen him smile.

***

After the lesson, Mina held her back when she wanted to walk out of the room.

"Wait. You've put Sembene in a good mood. This is my chance."

She waited until all the other students had left the classroom, and walked over to the professor's desk. Vanessa looked at her amusedly. She liked watching Mina work her charm.

"Sir," Mina said with her sweetest smile, "I have a question."

Sembene looked up from what he was writing. "You know you can call me Sembene in private. What do you want?"

"Well, uhm, you see," Mina stuttered, and Vanessa giggled to herself. What an actress. 

"Van and I," Mina continued, motioning towards Vanessa, "have developed somewhat of an interest in the different types of Undead - zombies, Inferi, mummies... You know when Dad went to Egypt and told us all those stories about the mummies in the pyramids? I thought it was fascinating!"

"Yes, and?" Sembene raised an eyebrow. He knew exactly what Mina was doing, and still, Vanessa knew he couldn't resist her. No one could resist Mina when she put her mind to something.

"And, well, we'd like to read up about it, only the most interesting books are in the Restricted Section..." She trailed off, looking suitably pleading and hopeful.

Sembene sighed and picked up his quill. "Alright, alright. Just promise me you're not planning anything dangerous."

"Of course we aren't!" Mina assured him with an angelic flutter of her eyelashes. Vanessa almost burst out laughing.

Sembene didn't seem the slightest bit fooled, but he still signed the permission slip. Mina thanked him effusively when he gave it to her, and grabbed Vanessa's hand to pull her out of the classroom. They barely made it to the end of the corridor before they burst into giggles.

***

Her good mood hadn't abated yet by that night, and she hummed cheerily as she used tweezers to pick up suitable roundish shards of the shattered mirror lying on the table in front of her.

"I like it when you sing," Mina said from where she was painstakingly untangling the last of the Crup's fur.

"I know," Vanessa said, and hummed louder.

"Can we tone down the saccharine-ness, please?" Victor asked exasperatedly. "I'm working on a delicate operation here."

He was sitting at the same table as Mina, by the Crup's head. There was a scalpel in his hand and he was using it to make it deep, narrow cut into the Crup's staring eyes. He'd repeated at least seven times that if he made a mistake here, they'd have to find a whole new animal. And that would be a waste, with all the work they'd already accomplished on this one.

Holding the tweezers with the shard of mirror in one hand and a polishing stone in the other, Vanessa smoothed out the glass's sharp edges. She also stopped humming, to allow Victor his concentration.

"Okay," Victor said. "Mirrors, please."

Vanessa walked over to hand him the shard of glass she'd just finished and the one she had done before that. Victor took them with a nod of thanks. Very carefully - he was holding his breath, Vanessa could hear - he slid a shard of mirror into the incision he'd made in the Crup's eye. He wiggled the tweezers slightly to test if the glass could move around. Apparently satisfied with the result, he picked up his wand, and soldered the incision shut.

Mina and Vanessa stayed very, very quiet as he did the same with the other eye. When it was done, he shone a light into the Crup's eyes, and it flashed eerily in the reflection. 

Victor looked up and smiled. "Done, I think."

"Fantastic!" Vanessa grinned. "We have the Crup, we have the books, now we just have to finish the spells and the potions and we'll have a very happy werewolf on our hands."

"Who's a werewolf?"

They collectively turned towards the door. Dorian was leaning against the doorpost, arms crossed on his chest.

Dorian turned towards Vanessa. "Van, who's a werewolf?"

"Mind your own business, you prick," Vanessa scowled. "No one invited you."

"That hurts me deeply." Dorian laid a hand over his heart in mock offence. "I was in the vicinity and wanted to check if there were sexytimes to be had, but instead I walk in on you three playing with mirrors and dead animals and talking about werewolves. So, tell me. What are you up to?"

"Dorian," Mina pleaded. "Please leave it alone. It's not just our secret to tell."

"But Mina dear," Dorian said with a toothy smile, "now you've gone and made me curious. And when I'm curious, I don't give up until I have found an answer. Better you tell me it yourselves than that I make a whole bunch of people very suspicious while doing my own research."

Vanessa was very annoyed and also a bit admirative. As a Slytherin herself, she couldn't help but appreciate Dorian's devious manipulation.

"Alright," she said. "We'll tell you."

Mina and Victor's heads whipped towards her. 

"No, we won't," Mina said sternly, and Victor shook his head frantically.

Vanessa raised a finger to shut them up. "We'll tell you," she said to Dorian, "but if you tell anyone, anyone at all, I'll personally make sure you never get laid again while you're at this school - and I don't mean just by me and Mina, I mean by _anyone_. And we'll ask Mina's dad to do everything in his power so that you never get into the Ministry. Is that clear?"

"Crystal." Dorian smirked. "Now tell me. Who's the werewolf?"

Vanessa closed her eyes, opened them again. She hoped to Merlin she wasn't making a terrible decision. 

"Ethan," she said.

"O-oh." Dorian smiled delightedly. "Always knew he'd be a beast in bed."

"Dorian, don't." Mina snapped. "Don't say that kind of thing. And don't use it against him, you hear me?"

This time, Dorian looked genuinely offended. "Of course I won't!" he exclaimed. "Who do you take me for?"

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. Dorian meant well, generally, but he was notoriously unreliable, and certainly not kind.

"You have my word," Dorian said, apparently noticing the reigning scepticism, "that I will never use this information to bring Ethan harm in any way. I like the bloke, for fuck's sake! And I know a thing or two about bigots judging you!"

That was undeniably true. Dorian acted like he didn't care what anyone thought - and he probably didn't - but he'd never used society's prejudices against someone. He knew how ridiculous and harmful they were.

"Okay," Vanessa said, nodding slowly. "Okay." she bore her eyes into Dorian's. "I'll still take great pleasure in orchestrating your downfall if you don't keep your promise, though."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Dorian grinned. "Anyway, what does this whole installation have to do with that?"

"We're trying to help Ethan," Victor answered. "Werewolves turn against themselves if they have no company during the full moon, but they automatically attack humans. If we manage to create an animal automaton that we can control from a distance, maybe he won't tear himself up so much."

"Cool," Dorian said. He looked genuinely impressed. "Can I stay and watch? It sounds interesting, and I'd like to help."

Mina, Victor and Vanessa all looked at each other. Vanessa shrugged and Victor gave a small nod.

Mina turned to Dorian. "Alright. You can stay."

 


	7. Dorian

Dorian walked out of the Room of Requirement and took a deep, relieved breath. Fresh air! His eyes were stinging and he was pretty sure he'd never get the foul reek of potion fumes out of his robes. 

He'd spent the better part of a couple of weeks holed up in the Room of Requirement, stirring potions, cutting up increasingly disturbing ingredients and reading out loud from books that creeped him out and fascinated him equally. He'd been privy to - and had occasionally taken part in - virulent debates on magical theory, law and ethics. The latter two seemed to be purely for the sport of it, because despite Mina's best efforts, Victor and Vanessa unfailingly agreed to take the most unethical and illegal possible course of action. Dorian found it all quite amusing, really. Especially when Mina grabbed Vanessa by the hand in the middle of a heated discussion and dragged her out of the door, leaving Victor to sigh heavily and proceed with the experiments on his own.

That was what had happened not five minutes ago. Victor had told Dorian to go get some sleep, and even though Dorian was not tired at all, he'd taken his advice. Victor had the winded, jittery look he got when he spent too long with people - especially people like Dorian and Vanessa, who communicated mainly through inappropriate sniping.

So Dorian was on his way to the Astronomy Tower. Mina and Vanessa would be there, but that wasn't why he was going. He was hoping to run into that cute Ravenclaw Sixth Year - the one with the smile. He'd pointedly told Vanessa that he heard that Venus would be extraordinarily bright tonight, right when the bloke walked by their table at lunch. Surely he must have gotten the hint.

Dorian turned left into a badly lit corridor, and stopped in his tracks. There were voices coming from an empty classroom. Angry voices - there was clearly an argument going on.

He walked closer to the door from behind which the voices were coming. He couldn't yet hear what they were saying, but he recognised them. It was Ethan Chandler and Brona Croft. Oh, this should be interesting. The Ravenclaw could wait.

Leaning against the wall next to the door, Dorian listened intently. 

"I can't bear letting you go through that alone every single month!" Brona was shouting, her voice shrill with anger.

Ethan spoke more softly, but his tone brooked no argument. "There is no way you're staying with me during the full moon, Brona. You could get seriously hurt, you could...." Ethan's voice trailed off. Mr Sensitive didn't want to dwell on the possibility of actually killing his girlfriend. Dorian supposed that was understandable.

Brona, however, wasn't deterred. "Have you seen that wound on your stomach? I am _not_ letting you do that to yourself again. I'll stay out of the way, make sure you can't hurt me. I just want to _do something_ if it gets too bad."

Yeah, right. She'd end up as dog food and Ethan would never forgive himself. Gryffindors – Dorian would never understand them.

"If you were there, it would only make things worse," Ethan said. "If I could smell you, but not reach you, it would drive the wolf crazy. He would take it out on me."

"There must be a way!" Brona cried. 

"There isn't." Ethan sounded dejected, resigned to his fate. But he was wrong.

Dorian's flair for dramatic entrances made itself known. He swung the door open - Locking Spells! They exist! They're useful! Especially when discussing such sensitive subjects where anyone could hear you! - and assumed a dramatic pose, one hand on his cocked hips.

"Yes, there is."

Ethan and Brona whirled towards him in perfect unison, wands at the ready. They really did look good in their Quidditch Robes.

Okay. Bad move. Dorian raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing your, uhm, lovers' spat." He coughed delicately. "Silencing Spells are generally a good idea in such situations, you know."

Brona glared at him menacingly, brandishing her wand. "Get. Out."

Dorian started protesting, but Ethan was quicker. 

He put a hand on Brona's arm. "Darlin', wait."

His eyes were wide and pleading when he turned to Dorian. "Please don't tell anyone."

Dorian frowned lightly. "What, that you've been fighting? Even the most functional couples have a right to fight occasionally, you know. You should see Vanessa and Mina when they get down to it."

"That I'm a werewolf," Ethan said. He was biting his lower lip, and his hands were curled into frustrated fists. Dorian's heart squeezed inside his chest.

He tried for levity. "Oh, that? Old news, have known it for a while. Don't worry, of course I won't tell anyone."

"You knew?" Ethan asked incredulously. "Who else knows?" He looked frankly panicked by now, and Brona wore an expression so menacing that Dorian was sorely tempted to take a step backwards.

"Vanessa, Mina, Victor, Caliban, and I," he said as gently as possible. "Victor and Caliban apparently accidentally walked in on you transforming."

" _They saw me transform?_ " Ethan's face grew ashen. "Oh God, I could have hurt them..."

Dorian really, really wanted to hug him. He restrained himself, and let Brona put a reassuring hand on Ethan's arm instead.

"You didn't, love. It's okay."

Ethan kept staring at Dorian. In other circumstances, he'd have been delighted by this, but the bloke's puppy eyes - Ha! He was hilarious! - were simply too heartbreaking.

"And they didn't tell anyone?" Ethan asked. He seemed unwilling to believe it. With reason, probably. Dorian couldn't imagine he'd been treated with much compassion and understanding in the past.

"Well, except for Vanessa, Mina and I, no. It's not your fault, Ethan. Why would we want to harm you for something you never asked for?"

Even harming someone for something they _had_ asked for struck Dorian as a particularly arseholeish thing to do. The only situation when it was okay to harm someone, was when the other had actually, consensually asked for it. Or for revenge purposes. But that was another matter entirely.

Looking absolutely stunned, Ethan merely blinked at him for a few moments. Then, he exploded.

"But _why?_ " Ethan's hands came up to grip his head, fingers tightening hard around his skull. "I'm a monster! I would deserve it!"

"No!" Dorian protested loudly. Oh Merlin, the poor sweetheart.

"You're not a monster!" Brona shouted. "You're just _sick!_ " She looked on the verge of tears.

Ethan took one look at her and instantly calmed down. 

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm sorry." He took her in her arms. "I'm so sorry."

"You know how much it hurts you when I call myself a freak," Brona said very quietly. "Please don't do it to yourself."

"I know," Ethan said, kissing her temple. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

This was probably the moment for a skilful diversion tactic.

"Besides," Dorian began, "as I was trying to say when I walked in, before I got rudely interrupted." He shot Brona a mocking glare. "The people mentioned above - well, except for Caliban, because he's an arse - "

Brona nodded emphatically. "Damn right."

"Interruptions!" Dorian warned, waving his index finger at her. "Well, we're kind of working on a possible solution for your... condition."

He took a dramatic pause, which was somewhat ruined by Ethan chuckling - the word "condition"? Or disbelief that the solution was viable?

"And it seems to be working!" He finished with a flourish of his sleeve.

Ethan shook his head, very slowly. "If you're having us on, this is _not_ my idea of a joke."

"That would be very unkind," Dorian said. Noting Bona's raised eyebrow, he added, "And tasteless. Which I am not."

"So what are you doing, then?" Brona asked.

"Creating some kind of Inferi automaton Crup to keep you company during the full moons. Don't ask me for the details, that's mainly Victor and Vanessa's area of expertise."

"Isn't that... extremely illegal?" Ethan asked.

"Your point is? So is becoming Animagi, and this was by far the quickest option. And time is not on your side, handsome."

Brona glared at him, but Ethan's face broke into a smile.

"And you're doing that for _me_?"

"Do you know a lot of other werewolves at this school? Because if so, you should tell Mina, I'm pretty sure she'd insist we help them all."

"Fuck me," Ethan breathed, his smile widening.

"With pleasure." Dorian smirked. "In case they don't have the Crup ready by next week, I even own quite a few chains, and I know how to use them."

Brona grabbed her bat and raised it menacingly, taking a step towards him. "I will break your fucking kneecap!" she threatened.

Dorian took two steps backwards. "Sorry, sorry! Habit!"

But Brona wasn't paying attention to him anymore. She was looking at Ethan, and they seemed to be having a silent conversations, all tiny shrugs and eyebrow movements.

"Right," Brona said, and turned back to Dorian. "Sorry, habit here too. You make innuendoes, I threaten to kick your arse. This should work." She took a deep breath. "Ethan and I had a talk, and... We've decided we could use you. And your chains. Just not during a full moon. There are limits."

Dorian's mouth fell open, then curled into a grin. "Are you asking me what I think you're asking me?"

"We want you to fuck us, yes." Ethan's voice saying those words sent a jolt of pleasure through Dorian's spine. This was too good to be true!

Wait. It actually was. Dorian's grin disappeared, and he frowned in displeasure. "You don't have to feel obliged to sleep with me as a thank you for doing what any decent person would do, you know. I'm not that desperate. Besides, you'd better choose Vanessa or Victor instead. They've been much more useful - though I know for a fact our future doctor won't be interested."

"We've talked about this before today, Dorian," Brona said. "Your flirting was anything but subtle - "

"Yes, that's something I pride myself upon." Brona glared at him. "Right, interruptions. Sorry. Go on."

"- and you're obviously attractive. This was just the final proof that you're not as much of an arse as you seem."

Dorian put a hand over his heart. "I'm touched, truly. So, when do we do this, then? Now?" No need to waste any time, was there?

One look at Ethan and Brona's slightly panicky faces told him enough.

"Alright, not now. Mental preparation, and all that. Well, do let me know when I can be of service, will you? I look forward to enjoying the pleasure of your company again."

He winked, and turned on his heels. With some luck, he might still catch the cute Ravenclaw.

***

Dorian had three fingers up Ethan's arse when Victor walked in. He took one step inside the converted old classroom, looked at them, averted his eyes, and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Why do I always keep walking in on people..."

"Fucking?" Brona provided.

"I was going to say 'having intercourse'."

Dorian raised an eyebrow at him. "The door was locked, you've only got yourself to blame."

"It was easy enough to open with a simple Alohomora," Victor said, still refusing to look at them.

"The thing with a locked door, Victor," Dorian explained patiently, "is that the message it sends generally is 'Don't walk in. You'll probably regret it.'"

He started pulling his fingers out of Ethan, who gave him a look. "Are you really going to keep fingerfucking me with doc over there present? Because he doesn't seem to appreciate the sight."

"I was pulling out, pet," Dorian told him, and Ethan shivered lightly. Oh, did he like pet names, then? That would have to be investigated. "Despite appearances," he continued, "I do have a modicum of social skills."

He pulled out completely, making Ethan whine low in his throat, and wiped his lube-sticky hand on the bed sheets.

"It's okay, you can look now," he told Victor.

Victor turned his gaze back to them. "You're still naked," he noted astutely.

"No, really? I hear keen observation skills are very important for becoming a doctor." Ethan smirked. "As is getting used to seeing naked people."

Dorian couldn't help but admire his ability to snark, when just seconds before he had been an overstimulated mess, begging to come even though he knew very well neither of them would be able to go again that night.

Victor's eyes locked on his face, and then on Brona, who was sitting crosslegged between Ethan's spread arms. His head was in her lap and she was gently stroking her hair. Ethan's hands were cuffed to the headboard, on both sides of her hips. 

Victor's eyebrows rose - they were singed, Dorian noted. How did that happen? Experiment gone wrong?

"So," Dorian said in an attempt to steer the conversation back to topics that would make Victor more comfortable, "what happened to your eyebrows?"

"Oh, that." Victor lifted a hand to rub at the arch of his orbit. "Blew up a cauldron, accidentally added the Manticore tails too soon." His eyes didn't leave Ethan's wrists, rubbed raw by the circles of metal.

Dorian wrinkled his forehead in thought. Was he just scientifically interested, or did this run deeper?

Misinterpreting his expression, Victor waved an apologetic hand. "Yes, I know. My apologies. That's why I wanted to see you, by the way. I managed to procure most of the fresh ingredients to start over, except the Manticore tails themselves. Can you take care of that?"

Dorian nodded. "I'll work on it tonight." He should be able to sneak out to the Hog's Head. One of the whores there had a Smuggler sister who was specialised in illicit Potions ingredients.

"Nothing important destroyed in the accident?" he asked Victor.

"No, don't worry. Mina's favourite mounted eagle caught fire, though. I don't think she has forgiven me yet. Or, well, maybe she has, since Vanessa accidentally Imperiused me."

"She _what_?" Brona squeaked.

"Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine now." Victor gave her a small smile. Then, he seemed to suddenly realise what he'd said, and his expression turned horrified.

"You can't just... pretend I never said anything, did you?" he asked earnestly.

Dorian snorted. Smooth, Frankenstein. "Don't worry. They know."

"They _know_?" Victor turned to him reproachfully. "Dorian, are you at all able to keep your fucking mouth shut?"

"Such language, doc," Ethan teased. 

Brona poked his shoulder. "As if you're one to talk."

"Never said I was." He smiled up at her, a happy, lopsided smile. The sap. They were entirely too adorable, and entirely too aware of it. Almost worse than Mina and Vanessa.

"To answer your question," Dorian told Victor, "I know and have kept to myself more secrets than you can think of. I just couldn't help overhearing our two lovebirds here -"

"You eavesdropped!" Brona corrected him.

"Same difference. I overheard them talking about solutions to make Ethan's conditions easier, and how could I have been expected not to put them out of their misery?"

Victor shook his head amusedly. "You could talk your way out of a lifelong sentence to Azkaban."

"Let's hope it won't come to that, shall we? Not talking freely about Manticore tails and Unforgivable might help with that, by the way."

"I had blackmail material," Victor said.

"Good point." Had Victor always been this cunning, or was that Dorian and Vanessa's influence on him? Probably the former.

Ethan didn't even have the good grace to look offended. "Do you think I can see the creation in process?" he asked excitedly.

"I think Mina and Vanessa would kill us if we spoiled the surprise like that," Victor answered, shooting Dorian a meaningful look. "But you'll see it next Tuesday, normally, if nothing major goes wrong."

"I want to be there too," Brona said.

"Obviously." Dorian smiled at her. "As long as we manage to sneak into the Shrieking Shack unobserved, I don't see why that should be a problem."

Victor's eyes strayed to Brona's hips - or, more probably, to the red welts left there by Dorian's fingernails. So Dorian wasn't imagining this!

Victor cleared his throat. "Well, I guess I'd best get back to it, then."

He said goodbye and walked out. Dorian shrugged on his robe and ran after him, throwing an "I'll be back in a second!" over his shoulder.

He caught Victor two classrooms down the corridor.

"Victor, wait!"

Victor turned back to him. "What is it?"

"Feel free to correct me if I'm interpreting this wrong, but you seemed interested in the handcuffs, and in the marks I left on Brona."

Victor froze, but Dorian pressed ahead. "Was that a purely scientific interest, or one of a more... personal kind?"

Victor's expression had gone dark. "Sex does not appeal to me, Dorian. I thought you knew that. Better yet, I thought you respected that."

Well done, Gray. Way to appear like an insensitive bastard. He took a step closer to Victor, making sure not to touch him. 

"No, you misunderstand. I didn't mean it that way. Kink doesn't have to be sexual in nature, you know. You could stay completely clothed, and so could your partner or partners, if you wanted to. Even touch isn't necessarily expected."

Victor looked intrigued, almost relieved. He looked at Dorian intently. "Would that partner be you?"

Oh. Direct. Dorian decidedly liked the bloke more and more each day.

"If you wanted that, I'm definitely offering." It had been too long since he'd done a non-sexual scene, and the idea of doing one with Victor... Dorian grinned to himself in delight.

"Then I think touch should be okay," Victor said, and oh, that was surprisingly touching. "Clothes, however... I'd rather keep them on, I think. At least the first time."

O-oh, he was already planning multiple times! This was getting better by the second. 

"Excellent." Dorian smiled warmly. "I'll try to find you at dinner to lend you a book about this, okay? Doing your own research is important, if only so you can be sure I'm not lying to you or trying to take advantage."

"I - uhm - yes, okay." Victor was blushing furiously by now. It was weirdly adorable.

Dorian decided to give him a break. "Well, I have to get back, and so do you. But I'll see you at dinner." He winked. "Looking forward to it!"

Dorian was practically skipping when he walked back to Ethan and Brona. This was grand. Victor would probably have to do more research to determine exactly which roles appealed to him, but Dorian would definitely have put his money on submissive-leaning, maybe with both sadist and masochist tendencies. That offered perspectives. If everyone was okay with it, he could even ask Ethan to help out with the aftercare. The bloke was a fantastic cuddler.

But that were questions for later. Now, Dorian had his own aftercare to take care of.


	8. Ethan

"Ethan, you're squishing me."

Ethan moaned incoherently and buried his nose into soft skin. He had no intention whatsoever to wake up.

"Ethan!" A vicious jab in his ribs foiled that plan. He opened one eye and found himself looking up Victor's left nostril.

"I can't breathe," the nostril told him reproachfully.

Ethan opened his other eye and he realised he was indeed squeezing Victor a bit too tightly to be comfortable. He loosened his grip around his waist and inched backwards a bit, into Brona's soft embrace. She giggled in his ear.

"Your boyfriend is clingy," Victor complained to her.

"Don't you go blaming me, now," she said, her breath tickling the back of Ethan's neck. "I reckon he's your boyfriend too, now. You share in the responsibility."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Victor protested vehemently. "He's my..."

"Cuddle partner?" Dorian offered from Victor's other side.

Victor blushed bright red - or were those still the imprints of Dorian's hand? - and Ethan bit back a grin. "Works for me. What does that make you, then, Dorian?"

"Whatever the fuck you want, as long as it makes it abundantly clear we're not exclusive."

"I think that's probably very fucking obvious, Gray." Brona unclasped an arm from around Ethan's waist to point towards the far side of the bed.

"Good morning," Mina greeted them cheerily.

Vanessa buried her face into her pillow. "Could you lot please shut up? It's the crack of dawn and some people are trying to sleep."

"It's ten minutes to eight, Vanessa," Victor corrected her. "But I forget, you probably had quite the exerting night."

"Fuck off," Vanessa grumbled. "I'm skipping breakfast."

"No, you're not," Mina told her. "You need your energy."

Ethan squinted at the couple. "How did you two even get here?"

"Dorian paid us a visit after he was done with you, and brought us here afterwards. He said something about bonding sessions, that kind of tripe. Thought he was more into bondage, but hey, whatever floats his boat, right? Which seems to be _a lot_." She switched her pillow for Mina's chest, making it plenty clear she had no intention to move from there.

Ethan lifted an impressed eyebrow at Dorian. And he thought he had decent stamina! He'd been wrung out after last night. Where had Dorian found the energy for a second session?

Dorian noticed his look and smirked self-satisfiedly.

Victor, however, had more practical concerns. "How did you even manage to enlarge that bed enough to fit six people?" he asked Dorian.

"Practice, doc, practice." Dorian's smirk grew bigger.

Victor rolled his eyes. "Right."

Ethan pushed himself up on one elbow and sat up, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I'm going down to breakfast before it's too late." He winked at Vanessa. "You might be able to live on sex and philosophical debates, but I'm going to turn into a ravenous, murderous beast tonight. I need my energy."

It still felt so weird to be able to say it in the presence of more people than just Brona. He knew they weren't going to sell him out, but his heart still skipped a beat every time he referred to his lycanthropy.

"Fuck!" Vanessa jolted upright. "It's today, I forgot!"

Lucky her. Ethan didn't think he'd ever be able to forget a full moon.

"Am I that distracting, then?" Dorian asked with a smirk.

"Fuck off," Vanessa told him, without any real animosity. "Is everything in order? Did we forget anything?"

"Calm down, love." Mina put a hand on her shoulder. "Everything's good. The spells are in place, all the potions have been administered, the mirror is safely stored away... The only thing we still need to do is to sneak the Crup into the Shrieking Shack once Clerval has left Ethan alone." She turned to Ethan. "Can you warn us, then?"

"How?" Ethan asked. "I don't exactly have access to an owl there."

"Send us a Patronus," Vanessa suggested.

Ethan frowned. "Is there no other option? The Two-Way Mirror or something?"

"We used the second mirror for the Crup's eyes, genius," Dorian reminded him. "What's the issue? I didn't know you had difficulties creating a Patronus?"

"He doesn't," Brona said. "He just doesn't like his Patronus." She gave him Ethan a lopsided smile. The absolutely dreadful tease. She knew he'd rather have any other Patronus than the one that was his.

"Why?" Dorian asked, incorrigibly curious as ever. "What is it?"

Ethan stared obstinately at his toes, but Victor answered instead. 

"It's a wolf."

Ethan shot him a dark look. See if he'd get cuddles again anytime soon.

Dorian started sniggering. "Wolfy McWolferson," he managed, before bursting into helpless peals of laughter. 

Mina laughed with him, her giggled muffled behind her hand, and even Vanessa's eyes were twinkling amusedly.

"As if you're one to talk!" Ethan protested, elbowing Victor in the ribs. "Yours is a fucking weasel!"

His attempt at revenge seemed to go utterly unnoticed. Fine. Let them laugh. 

He looked at Brona, trying to find some support from that corner, but she took one look at his kicked-puppy expression and burst out laughing too.

Okay. Maybe it was a tiny bit funny. Ethan watched Brona's shoulders shake, fingers digging into her knees for support, and then he was gone too. He laughed heartily, head thrown back, tears of mirth pooling at the corners of his eyes.

Victor watched them, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Oh come on, doc," Ethan managed through his laughter. "Have you lost your sense of humour?"

"I fail to see what's so humorous," Victor said dryly. "Besides, don't you have to be down in the Great Hall in five minutes if you still want some breakfast?"

"Right." Ethan stood up, still laughing, and wiggled into his trousers. "Sorry, don't know what came over me. I suppose it's that time of the month."

Dorian, who had started to calm down a bit, heard his - frankly rather bad - joke, and roared with laughter again, burying his face in his hands.

Werewolf jokes. He was making werewolf jokes. Ethan couldn't believe it.

He leaned against the door, waiting for the rest to be ready. If they missed breakfast, they could always sneak down to the kitchens between classes.

***

Throughout the day, Ethan started getting more and more jittery. As always the day of a full moon, he was unable to concentrate in class and wanted nothing more than to go for a run around the lake, or take his broom and fly as far and as high as the Hogwarts wards would let him.

There was a significant difference, though. Usually, Brona patted his shoulder or held his hand or hugged him when she noticed he was becoming too tense, but now she wasn't the only one. Mina walked by and kissed him sweetly on the cheek. Dorian not-so-discreetly pinched his arse and gave him a lewd look that kept him distracted for the entire Transfiguration lesson. Victor whispered scientific explanations in his ear every chance he got, reassuring Ethan that it would definitely work.

After dinner, Vanessa even offered him a blunt. "To relax," she said.

Ethan barely had the time to think "Bad move," before Brona slapped the blunt out of her hand and ground it underneath her heel. 

"I have CF, you complete idiot. Don't ever, ever smoke in my presence. Actually, don't smoke at all. You have a working pair of lungs, fucking appreciate them."

Vanessa looked momentarily shocked, even a bit offended. But then she looked at the tip of her shoes and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry. I didn't think. I won't do it again."

"Good," Brona said, nodding sternly. But then the tight line of her lips curled into a smile, and she linked her arm through Vanessa's. "Come on, let's go to class."

Ethan followed them, a fond smile on his lips.

***

That night, he barely had the time to eat something before he had to report to the Hospital Wing. It was almost December; the moon rose early.

Clerval, the nurse, accompanied him over the school grounds, under the Whomping Willow, and through the secret passageway. Neither of them spoke a word. Ethan was too tightly wound to make conversation, and Clerval respected that.

Once Ethan was settled inside the Shack's bedroom, curled up on his side to try to lessen the cramps that were starting to affect all his muscles, Clerval left him alone. He knew Ethan didn't like being witnessed in this state. And he probably wanted to get back to his other patients.

Ethan took his wand to send a Patronus to Hogwarts. He thought of that morning, of warm bodies all around him, and teasing, and laughter, and the silver wolf sprang fully formed from the tip of his wand. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too conspicuous, roaming the halls of the castle before curfew.

He undressed and put on the robe he only used for full moons. It was big enough not to be torn to pieces during the transformation. His other clothes, and his wand, Ethan put on top of the big wardrobe, out of the wolf's reach. Then, he curled up on the bed again, swaddling himself in the oversized fluffy bathrobe. His hands and feet were starting to cramp almost unbearably. He tried to rub them against each other as best as he could, but it didn't make much difference.

His rapidly sharpening hearing picked up the noise of his friends arriving long before they reached the door to the Shack.

"Careful with the Crup!" Victor was telling someone as he turned the doorknob. And then, "Ethan, are you there?"

"Upstairs," Ethan replied. His throat felt gravelly and dry, and his voice sounded unnatural to his own ears.

Five pairs of feet trudged up the stairs. Ethan turned on his other side to face his friends as they entered the room. Dorian was carrying a bundled-up blanket - that must be the Crup.

"Oh, luv," Brona said sadly. "You look terrible."

Ethan managed a small smirk. "Thanks, that makes me feel a whole lot better."

Brona came to sit on the edge of the bed. "Can I?" she asked.

Ethan nodded - fuck, his neck and shoulders were starting to seriously hurt too - and Brona laid down, cradling him in her arms. The warmth of her body helped with the pain a bit.

"What's wrong?" Mina asked, sounding worried.

"Cramps." Ethan would have expanded, but his voice was half a growl already. Fuck, he hated this.

Dorian apparently noticed. "Let's get on with it," he urged the others. "We don't have a lot of time."

Victor nodded curtly and took the bundle from Dorian's arms. He unwrapped the blanket, revealing a very dead-looking animal. It had two forked tails, but except for that, it bore a certain resemblance to a Jack Russell. That felt reassuring, somehow. Familiar.

Ethan's jaw was starting to feel as if it was trying to dislocate itself, and he buried his face in Brona's chest. Victor was murmuring a constant stream of complicated-sounding Spells. If he didn't get on with it, they were never going to get to safety before Ethan transformed. The pull of the moon was getting stronger every second. 

Ethan squeezed his eyelids shut against the pressure building in his eyeballs. He tightened every muscle in his body - well, the ones that weren't cramped up already - straining to resist against the transformation.

Brona caressed broad, calming strokes across his back. "Hurry up," she hissed at Victor. "It won't be long."

"I'm _trying_ ," Victor snapped.

"Are you sure it will work?" Brona sounded worried, almost pleading. She must be almost as terrified as Ethan felt. Terrified, but hopeful. If this worked... If this worked, it could make his life so much easier, the full moon less of a nightmare.

"We tested it twice, Brona," Vanessa reassured her. "It worked then. It will work now."

"Aha!" Victor exclaimed triumphantly. Ethan carefully peeked over Brona's shoulder and his heart skipped a beat. The Crup's eyes were open, glittering eerily in the half-darkness of the room. It was working!

"Mina, the mirror," Victor ordered.

"I know." Mina took a small rectangle out of one of her pockets. She pointed her wand at it and whispered, "Up."

The Crup rose unsteadily to its feet. It didn't appear to breathing, but it was undeniable moving. Ethan couldn't believe his eyes.

"Go to Ethan," Mina said, and the Crup lurched across the room. It was clumsy and stiff, but it reached the bed faster than Ethan's wolf form would have. He would have been majorly creeped out if he weren't so impressed.

"You're all geniuses," he said in an awed whisper. "Thank you."

Brona looked down at him, and jerked back involuntarily.   
"I say we get out of here," she told the others, and scrambled off the bed, almost falling over the Crup. Ethan's heart tightened in his chest. He must look horrible.

But Brona tenderly smoothed his hair back and dropped a kiss on his forehead. "Good luck, luv. I'll keep an eye on you."

Oh god. Ethan had forgotten that part. The mirror would allow them to actually see him in his werewolf state. What if they changed their minds? What if what they saw horrified them so much that they didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore?

His thoughts were cut short when his spine suddenly snapped back painfully far, tearing an agonised shriek from his lips.

"Out! Get out!" Mina shouted. 

The others obeyed instantly, but Vanessa protested, "We can't just _leave_ him like that!" Her voice was trembling.

"We did what we could!" Mina grabbed her hand and forcefully dragged her out of the room. "Now it's time to _get out_!"

_Clever girl_ , Ethan had the time to think, before his consciousness evaded him entirely.

***

He woke up in the Hospital Wing, blinking sleepily at the pristine white ceiling.

"Oh, you're awake," came Clerval's voice from the side of his bed. "How are you feeling?"

Ethan went through his usual mental inventory of his body. He was stiff and aching all over, but there was none of the searing pain caused by teeth or claw wounds.

He fully opened his eyes and turned his head towards Clerval. "Surprisingly well." His throat felt sore from all the screaming and howling, but that was to be expected.

"I'd imagine!" Clerval beamed at him. "There's not a mark to be found anywhere on you!"

"None?" Ethan didn't dare to believe it. No wounds? That would speed up his healing by at least two days!

"None at all," Clerval assured him. "I don't get it either. Did anything special happen?"

"Not that I know of," Ethan lied cheerfully. It had worked! It had actually worked! 

"Oh well," Clerval said with a smile, "you won't hear me complaining." Bless his trusting heart.

"Miss Croft is outside," Clerval continued, "Can I let her in?"

Ethan swallowed. If she wanted to see him, that was good, right? If she'd been freaked out by what she'd seen last night, surely she wouldn't break up with him in the Hospital Wing? Unless she couldn't bear to wait another second before putting an end to it...

Ethan steeled himself and nodded. "Of course."

As soon as Clerval opened the door, Brona flew across the room and threw herself on Ethan's bed. "I'm so, so sorry you have to go through that every month," she whispered in his ear. "My brave, courageous darling."

She was squeezing him so tight that it hurt, but Ethan couldn't bring himself to care. She still loved him! She didn't think he was a monster!

"I'm okay," he told her, his smile threatening to make his lips crack. "I'm not even hurt. Clerval can't believe his eyes."

"That's amazing." Brona kissed him gently on the mouth, taking care not to hurt him. "They're amazing."

"They are," Ethan agreed. "I can't believe they did it."

"They're waiting outside, by the way. They weren't sure if you were up to seeing them."

"Of course I am!" And even if he hadn't been, he would damn well have found the strength to thank them. He didn't think he'd ever felt this grateful in his entire life.

Brona ran back to the door to let the others in, and Ethan found himself surrounded by hesitant smiles.

"Are you okay?" Dorian asked gently.

Ethan beamed at them. "I'm wonderful. There's not a mark anywhere on me, apparently."

"No wounds?" Victor looked awed at himself, and Ethan laughed heartily. "Yeah, you're a genius, doc."

He looked the others in the eye, one by one. "Thank you. Thank you so much. You can't even begin to imagine how much I owe you." Tears were stinging at the corner of his eyes. One escaped and trickled down his cheeks.

"Are you _crying_?" Dorian asked disbelievingly. "Oh Merlin, he's adorable. I want seven."

Brona poked him in the ribs. "There's only one of him, and we're sharing."

"Oh, Ethan," Vanessa breathed, and bent over to hug him. Mina joined her, resting her head against his chest.

"Cuddle pile!" Dorian shouted, and Ethan was squished under his and Brona's additional weight. Even Victor was squeezing his hand, looking down at them with one of his rare smiles.

Clerval walked by and shot them a suspicious look. "Careful, guys," he told them. "Let him breathe."

Ethan beamed at him over the top of the others' heads. "Don't worry, Mr Clerval. I'm fine. In fact, I'm wonderful."


End file.
